1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to rolling doors, and more particularly to apparatus for mounting a rolling door curtain on a barrel assembly.
2. Prior Art
Presently rolling door curtains are constructed principally from metal strips hingedly connected together, although they can also be constructed from wood or other materials. Typically, the rolling door curtains are shipped from the manufacturer to the installer in a rolled up bundle. In most instances, there will be cardboard or other protective material between each roll in the bundle to protect the rolling door curtain from being bent or damaged in shippage. The size of the bundle can vary depending upon the size of the rolling door curtain, but, generally, the rolling door curtain is between eight (8) to fifteen (15) feet wide and eight (8) to twenty (20) feet long.
The present practice to install the rolling door curtain is first to unroll the bundle out over a flat surface on the ground, such as a concrete driveway, then attach the rolling door cutain to a barrel assembly, wind the rolling door curtain on the barrel assembly while it is on the ground, and finally to lift the barrel assembly with wound rolling door curtain in position to be permanently attached.
An alternate present practice is to first attach the barrel assembly in position, then unwind and lift the rolling door curtain to the barrel assembly for attachment, and finally wind the rolling door curtain about the barrel assembly.
In either of the present techniques, multiple problems occur, some of which include: damage to the rolling door curtain when it is laid out on the ground, requirement of a large area to wind the rolling door curtain, difficulty in attaching the rolling door curtain to the pre-hung barrel assembly and the time required to attach and position the rolling door curtain.
Some of the disadvantages were overcome by the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,221, entitled "Rolling Door Curtain Mounting Apparatus" issued to the inventor herein on May 8, 1979. While this apparatus works well for smaller rolling door curtains, difficulty in rolling the curtain onto the barrel still occurs when utilizing the larger curtains.